Pharmaceutical products are ubiquitous in our lives; millions of pharmaceuticals become wastes each year as products pass their expiration date, become unwanted, or patients die. Ongoing studies reveal that pharmaceuticals are escaping into the environment and that some classes can act as endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to abnormalities and impaired reproductive performance in some species. Pharmaceutical wastes present both wastewater and solid waste management issues. Currently, there is a lack of understanding as to whether there are convenient, consistent, legal, and safe ways to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals. This has led to environmental damage, as well as to unsafe storage practices that have resulted in accidental poisonings. Currently, residents are often instructed to flush unwanted pharmaceuticals down toilets, leading to potential contamination of surface waters, ground waters, and biosolids, and resulting in exposure to aquatic organisms. When residents dispose of pharmaceutical products in the garbage, these products present potential safety risks to the general public and to solid waste collection workers.
